New Healthcare Management Advisor Brings Training Expertise To EC's Program
Elmira, NY (03/10/2022) — A little more than a year ago, Elmira College added Healthcare Management to its program lineup to give motivated, service-oriented students knowledge of an essential business predicted to grow more than 30% over the next decade.
Dr. Susan Hohenhaus, Healthcare Management Advisor, adjunct faculty, Business & Economics Division, is now bringing her wealth of expertise to advise the program. Hohenhaus trained as a nurse before turning her focus to patient safety, and ultimately, to teaching healthcare staff how to improve their teamwork and communication to reduce patient harm and avoid waste. She has held leadership roles at the Emergency Nurses Association; Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses; and The Guthrie Clinic as well as owning her own consulting business.
"I have built a life, a career, on overcoming what others have told me could not be done," said Hohenhaus.
The program provides a management foundation as well as delving into important aspects of healthcare, such as ethics, healthcare policy and regulation, and the growing role of technology in the field.
Hohenhaus is excited to put her lifelong passion for training and mentoring into preparing students who will need to manage healthcare differently than in the past. Future leaders will need to remain agile and adapt in a field that has seen unprecedented upheaval thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We want to build the basic competencies so that managers can feel confident when they need to shift," she said. "It will be important for future healthcare managers to model change adoption and manage change for their staffs."
To build a strong foundation, Hohenhaus wants to increase the use of simulations, because, as she says, "You train like you fight and you fight like you train."
She wants students to get experiential learning right from the very beginning. For her, that means having students work together and practice the communication and teamwork skills needed when running a healthcare system. The goal is for students to learn how to lead and influence whole groups of people while using data and analytics to make business decisions.
"For example, managers need to do more than build a budget, they need to sell it and be persuasive. That includes telling a compelling story," she said.
Hohenhaus is eager to partner with EC's Nursing department and with Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine LECOM, which has a campus adjacent to EC. The simulations will give students direct practice in scenarios they will likely see as healthcare administrators. Also, the simulations will not only help the students in the management program; they will also benefit the students studying to become nurses and doctors, all of whom will become part of the whole healthcare system.
"We want to give students the tools, resources, and professional connections that will help them succeed whether they want to run a healthcare organization or specialize," said Hohenhaus.
One way Hohenhaus and the Business and Economics department focus on professional networking is with the B&E virtual panel sessions. Hohenhaus will facilitate the final session of the academic year from noon to 1:00 p.m., Tuesday, March 15. Members of the healthcare industry will give students insight into how to prepare for a successful career. All students are encouraged to attend to get industry and general business advice.
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Dr. Susan Hohenhaus, Healthcare Management Advisor, adjunct faculty, Business & Economics Division, stands and talks to students about management best practices.